St. Charles County focuses on reducing child abuse, neglect

In St. Charles County, 181 children in were abused and neglected last year. Those were the reported cases. At least one study has found that one in four children suffer some form of abuse or neglect in their lifetimes.

And now, St. Charles County law enforcement officials say they need the public's help in reporting the crime. "It's critical to remember that vulnerable children need advocates to keep them safe and protected," St. Charles County Police Chief David Todd said at a news conference on Tuesday. "Otherwise many cases will go unreported. We don't want that, we don't need that."

St. Charles County is honoring the 181 victims of child abuse or neglect with pinwheels in the front lawn of the County Executive Office Building this week.

Credit Marie Schwarz | St. Louis Public Radio

Todd and other county officials on Tuesday honored the 181 children that were victims of abuse or neglect in 2016 with a "pinwheel garden" in front of the St. Charles County Executive Office Building. There is a pinwheel for each child. It will remain there for a week.

Todd says in a majority of those cases the abuser was not a stranger.

"They knew them and they trusted this individual, whether it was a relative or a family member or a close friend of the family. The children were victims of someone they trusted and the family trusted them also," said Todd.

Amanda Moore is the mother of two children who were abused by a relative. She spoke at the event Tuesday and said it is important to listen to children and give them enough comfort to tell their story.

"They needed help, they needed justice and the first step is 'Yes, I believe you' and 'yes, we're gonna fix this,'" Moore said.

She stressed that when in doubt, people should call the police and let them investigate the possible abuse or neglect.

The number of abused and neglected children in St. Charles County was down last year from 263 cases in 2015. But Prosecuting Attorney Tim Lohmar said it's still too many.

"We've got more work to do. Our efforts make a difference but we have more work to do."

St. Charles County Chief of Police David Todd pets Bonnie, a service dog with the department that works with victims of child abuse to put them at ease so they can tell their stories to authorities.

Credit Marie Schwarz | St. Louis Public Radio

Also appearing at Tuesday's press conference were three service dogs that offer comfort support and investigative services for child victims of abuse.

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Thirty-four children died in the state of Missouri in 2012 due to child abuse and neglect. Seven of them were in St. Louis. All told, more than 13,000 reports of abuse and neglect involving almost 20,000 children were filed in the St. Louis region in 2012. About 900 of those reports were proven to be substantiated, with almost 50 percent of the cases receiving some sort of services.

A task force has released its recommendations on combatting sexual abuse of children in Missouri.

There are 22 recommendations in all. They include requiring people who are legally obligated to report sex abuse incidents to directly contact the state’s Children’s Division, instead of just reporting incidents to superiors within their own organizations. That particular recommendation will be sponsored by State Representative Marsha Haefner (R, Oakville).